Bachmann's New Hampshire campaign staff resigns

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paid staff members in New Hampshire for presidential candidate Michele Bachmann have resigned en masse, a Republican familiar with the situation said Friday, in a fresh blow to her 2012 hopes.

All of the staffers, said to number six, resigned on Thursday, the Republican said.

New Hampshire's WMUR television said the reason given was due to the Bachmann campaign's lack of focus on New Hampshire, which holds the country's first primary election.

Bachmann has focused much of her efforts on Iowa, whose January 3 caucuses are the first U.S. nominating contest of the 2012 election cycle. Bachmann's conservative message has a greater chance of achieving a breakthrough in Iowa, where social conservatives are a dominant voice.

Bachmann has been on a slow fade since winning the Iowa straw poll of Republican voters in August. Bachmann has only been registering single digits in polls of New Hampshire Republican voters. In Iowa, she has been in fourth place in the polls behind Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.